


ՏҽɑՏօղՏ ՏմʍʍօղíղցՏ

by Baguette_Me_Not



Series: TAU-VERSE [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Nothing says festive like angst, Passing mention of other tau characters, Standard demon stuff, Summoning, and christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21797467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baguette_Me_Not/pseuds/Baguette_Me_Not
Summary: Because really, what says Christmas like a good old summoning circle?
Series: TAU-VERSE [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1468874
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	ՏҽɑՏօղՏ ՏմʍʍօղíղցՏ

𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚢: 

𝙸𝚝 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 

𝙼𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 

𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚍, 

𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 

𝙸𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛. 

~𝚁𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝙴. 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚑

* * *

As the cliche goes, it was a summoning much alike any other. You had the candles for it (unscented, but of course), the circle (freshly drawn with chalk that had been stored in a locked cabinet, lest something such as this occurred), even the summoner (who had a particularly noticeable sauce stain on the right hand corner of their shirt — one wash should do it.) Nope, it was more or less your standard, vanilla, please-hurry-up-just-because-I’m-a-demon-doesn’t-mean-I-don’t-have-places-to-be kind of summons.

He’d had better. Really. For instance, that one candle was about an inch out of position compared to the others, multiple mistakes could be picked up straight away from the chalk symbols, and _don’t even get him started on that stain_.

But he digressed.

“Please, you gotta help me out with this!” The summoner all but begged him — which, protip for all the kids out there, _is a prime example of how things can go bad from the get go._ Don’t show a demon your desperation, they’ll only hike up the prices and _yikes_ if their services weren’t costly nowadays. Looking at you, Oth'toreth the anathema. “Alcor, you’re my only hope!”

Typical, the only people who quoted _Star Warriors_ anymore were the ones who did it _by sheer coincidence_ . (To do list: re-educate the people of today on good pop-culture. Sandwich it in between rejoining a DD&MD campaign and understanding why in the stars neon boots had made a come back as a craze for the _fifth_ time.)

“ ** _Y͎̠͝e͙̫̜̬̪̳a͉̮̼͍h̞̩͞_** **, about that,** ” He drawled out in his usual ‘sorry not sorry’ fashion he brought out especially for when he was on the job, “ **Make no mistake, kid, I͇̙̙ ̘̗͕͙̮̮d̨̬̘o̲͍̟͇͙̬̬n̟̥’͉̞͚̟͓t̠̞̪** ** _͔̠̮̘h̹͕̹͓̬a̷̖̹̺̰̣̳v̻͉̀e͔̰͇̹̝͈͠_** **t̩̰̞̜́o͔̗̫͡ ̶̻͈̘̹d̟̳̫͚̹̬͎o̵̤͕̘̦̦͚ a̶̳̣̠n͠y̸͉̳̦͓̻t̛h͇̲̕i̮̼̰̼̹̰̯͝n̷̤͔͍͈̜g̸͔͎ͅ.** **This summoning circle isn’t fooling anyone. I mean, I could waltz out of it this very second.** ” He paused for dramatic effect, lip curling into a fanged smile as he preened at his summoner’s flinch. Good. “ **But, tell you what, if you cut me a g͈̤o̤o͏̗d̦̫̠̕ b̩̦̞ar̺͈̭̹̣̯g̖̯͈͜a̫̠̥̤͍i͏̫n̲ on your end, this could go swimmingly. M̬̱o͕̦͙̺̗ͅͅre̖̘ ̺̬͞o̟̣r͙̫ ̕l͍̠̜è̠͎̻s̛̮̩̦͖̗̪̖s̗**.”

A hasty nod, and the summoner (who was just another face in the crowd, another one of the thousands, was he really bothered in learning their name? No. Did he know it anyway? Unfortunately yes) scrambled to retrieve multiple jumbo packs of assorted sweets from the counter.

“I heard you liked sweets?” They grinned, most definitely nervous, “Does this cut it?”

Alcor inclined a brow, possibly a fraction higher than the average human eyebrow could reach. “ **Depends what ‘it’ is. If your situation is as life-threatening as you make it out to be, then it’s a clear ṋ͍̱̦̹̗̖o.** ” An afterthought, “ **Either way, I’ll be taking them.** ”

“Life threatening? Oh, _hah_ , no,” They swiped their bangs from their face, almost dark enough to be an inky black if you ignored the browner strands revealed by light. “Uh, yes? Maybe? I need a gift for my friend by tomorrow and _I still haven’t gotten anything_ ! It’s not like I forgot — well, okay, yes I did — but I just haven’t been able to look at anything that really speak ‘ _them_ ’, y’know? And woosh! Before I know it, I’m out of time.”

Ah.

Decidedly _not_ life threatening. This summoner had reduced the world’s most powerful demon to nothing more than the next best method of shopping on ‘Nile’ or ‘O-Bay.’

Thousands of years, and mortals just seemed to be unable to break bad habits.

“ **Gifts, huh?** ” Alcor peaked into his flood of omniscience, dipping into the nexus of facts, figures, opinions and other tidbits of details you could find no other use for than acing a pub quiz. Hmmm… interesting. “ **A little late for Christmas shopping, isn’t it?** ”

This time of year, it drafted up some rather … mixed feelings. Oftentimes, he missed the day all together, being all ‘oh? Was that yesterday?’ What was the purpose of it, really, to an age immortal demon who’d powered through Christmas after Christmas, year after year? How time weaved past him, slipped from his grasp, Alcor could blink and it would be a year later. Stars, a large portion of them he had _slept through_. 

It was a time for families, gift-giving, warmth, love, and everything else he just didn’t want to think about anymore, save dredging up memories long since repressed. Dipper didn’t have _any_ of that anymore.

Not in a long while.

( _A motherly smile that warms his heart, little, pudgy hands gripping at a gift as he gazes at it in wonder. Squeals from the other side of the room, a man chortling as he records the whole thing.)_

( _Laughter and glitter, a boop on the nose as she spins around the tree giggling about five times the amount of the collective force that’s her children. Jumpers are dished out like pamphlets, auras rich in joyful colours, baubles hanging from antlers and a pang of guilt how he wishes- little feet running into the room, decorated in this mish mash of Hanukkah and Christmas that they had finally settled on.)_

( _A twin who isn’t really his — but oh how it is nice to pretend — presses something into his hands and there are warm tears of joy or sadness — he can’t tell. A family that never should have been his, but is, just is. Acceptance, relief. Him finally receiving the latest book in a long awaited trilogy from his father.)_

_(This young boy who just can’t be so meek, so innocent when his soul’s clearly not. But he can’t ignore the traitorous pang of pride that swells deep within as the boy grins at him with such bright eyes as he unwraps the latest in a long line of gifts. And he thinks maybe, just maybe this isn’t such a terrible idea after all.)_

_(Then the boy’s eyes are fond, a little older, holds himself with brotherly pride as he looks over at the girl. She’s just as glittery as when she was his sister, never before had he expected to become a father to her.)_

_(They at least have to attend a single party that doesn’t end in disaster, why not make it a Christmas one they say. And do demons even celebrate Christmas? Tyrone? Tyrone?)_

_(Do you take Christmas dinner as an acceptable payment? We’ve got some left over and- and you can stay for awhile if you want? Do demons get lonely over Christmas?)_

Graves aren’t ever good company.

Not so much as _them_.

…

“Christmas?” Came a startled voice, and he’s instantly aware he’d fallen back on the past at a very inconvenient moment. Why had he even fallen into those thoughts in the first place? “I, uh, no? Life-giving day, but, well, if you don’t mind my asking… What’s a Christmas?”

Alcor, for all the words he had easy access to, all the dictionaries and thesauruses accessible by just a mere thought away, found himself at a loss for them.

How…. long? 

How many apocalypses had the world gone through until such festivities such as Christmas had faded with time, lost with the people gone generations ago?

How did phrases like ‘ _does this cut it_ ’ outlive the holiday? 

“Uh, Dreambender?”

Huh.

“Do you know what I should do? About the gift?”

Times… they had really changed. 

The world was no longer familiar to him, really. Ever so different to that place the young boy and girl grew up in. It was a peculiar feeling, having things shift and whirl so much, having things you’d think last… _not_.

Because nothing ever did. Not in this world, not in any other. And in the end, after that very last cracker had been pulled, Christmas was only a festivity.

Of course it would die too.

Eventually everything does.

  
(But him.)

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, Merry Christmas?


End file.
